Earth & Sky

Thanks to:
John Joy
Forest Ecologist
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest
Whitehall, MT

Steve Shelly
Regional Botanist
Research Natural Areas Coordinator
Region 1
USDA Forest Service
Missoula, MT

Mike Castellano
Research Forester
Pacific NW Research Station
USDA Forest Service
Corvallis OR

Other Info:

Castellano, M. A. and J. M. Trappe. 1985. Mycorrhizal associations of five species of Monotropoideae in Oregon. Mycologia 77: 499-502. Lichthardt, J. 1995.

Draft Conservation Strategy For Allotropa virgata (Candystick). U.S. Forest Service Northern Region. Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Lichthardt, J. and M. Mancuso. 1991.

Report on the Conservation Status of Allotropa virgata (Candystick) on the Nez Perce National Forest I. Field Survey and First and Second-Year Monitoring Results. Idaho Department of Fish and Game. 16 pp. Wogen, N. S. and J. D. Lippert. 1998.

Management Recommendations for Candystick or Sugarstick (Allotropavirgata Torrey & Gray).

This site has color photographs of Candystick – Montana Natural Heritage Program:

Good overall description of the plant and its life history (BLM.gov)

Author’s Notes:
Interview with John Joy, Forest Service ecologist on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Joy has documented, photographed and searched for these rare plants since 1973.
March 13, 2001

Richie: You’ve seen a lot of candysticks (Allotropa) in the field. What does the plant look like?

Joy: When it comes up it’s fairly white at first, then as it elongates the striping shows up, and finally you’ll see a cluster of small flowers without petals on top of a stalk. Depending on the year, they can reach 6-18 inches, but most are 6-12 inches. Sometimes they will come up as one stalk (more often this way) and occasionally they come up in a cluster. Now and then we’ll find a dozen or so in one area. We found 64 stalks once in an area half the size of my desk!

Richie: Where do you find candystick in Montana?

Joy: Montana has disjunct populations of what we call candystick or Allotropa, the scientific name. The Beaverhead-Deerlodge lies at the farthest east portion of its range (most of its range lies in the Pacific Northwest). That adds to the allure of the plant, as we’re on the edge of its range.

Richie: What’s the limiting factor for candystick?

Joy: Moisture is probably the limiting factor. It’s often found toward alpine sites with beargrass. Without the beargrass, it doesn’t seem to appear. Most of them grow, too, where there’s not much competition.

Richie: What makes this plant so fascinating?

Joy: When it comes up in the spring it looks like an asparagus but instead of greenish, it’s pink. Then you get this red and white stem that looks like a peppermint stick. It seems to be very dependent on moisture. In dry years it doesn’t come out of the ground. In a wet year, you’ll walk the same ground and there it will be. It’s kind of puzzling. We’ve marked lodgepole pines with flagging over the top of Allotropa plants. We’ve come back to the flagging 1-2 years later and there’s no sign of it above ground. Of course, the three-part relationship, tied into mycorrhizal fungi is fascinating.

Richie: Explain how that 3-part relationship works?

Joy: For Allotropa to do well it has to bond itself to the fungi, but the fungi isn’t chlorophyllic either so they tap into the roots of trees. The mycorrhizal fungi brings in increased absorption to the tree and protects their root tips from some sorts of pathogens. The tree, in turn, takes the water and nutrients from the soil and converts those through photosynthesis to produce carbohydrates (chlorophyll is the catalyst to change simple sugars to starch). The tree then takes those carbohydrates and translocates them back down to the roots, which in turn feed the fungi. Some say that Allotropa is a saprophyte, but that’s not true because it’s bonded to the fungi instead of to the tree . It’s actually a mycotroph.

Richie: How does the Allotropa (candystick) fit into the symbiotic relationship? Does it help the tree or the fungus or both?

Joy: There’s a connection between the Allotropa adding nutrients to the tree too, but it’s not clear at all how that happens. The Allotropa gets nutrients from the fungi, but what does the fungi get from the Allotropa? That’s a mystery. There’s some possibility that the Allotropa won’t even germinate without the presence of the fungi.

Richie: Can you tell me about the connection with the edible matsutake mushroom and the candystick?

Joy: Mike Castellano has worked on this relationship, and shown Allotropa to be found often in connection with this species. We did find them when he was over here and showed us-they have a sweet, musty smell, which must be why they are so valued. He could tell you more about that connection.

Richie: What does it mean to be listed as a “sensitive” plant in the Forest Service?

Joy: They are plants of limited distribution, because they are inherently rare (like Allotropa) or they are on the fringe of their range (also like Allotropa) or they have lost their habitat from things like overgrazing, timber harvest, road building or paving over for development. When there’s a significant downward trend in population or habitat capability, that’s a flag and a reason to classify a plant as “sensitive.”

Richie: Tell me specifically why candystick is on the list?

Joy: We tend to want to cut trees where it grows. For the most part we have found this plant on relatively gentle slopes that face southeasterly or on flat ridges . They are ideal places to harvest trees. When you cut the trees, essentially the Allotropa is gone. They are so dependent on the trees, much like a carbohydrate factory. The candystick can’t make it without the factory. I haven’t been able to find Allotropa in clearcuts next to forests with Allotropa. However, stand replacing fires are part of the natural system here. There must be some way for them to eventually recolonize. When there is an understory burn, the Allotropa does fine because it’s underground. From a management standpoint we have to remove some of the trees to keep the plant, followed by an underburn to establish younger trees to take advantage of the mycorrhizal fungi.

Richie: How does Allotropa (candystick) reproduce?

Joy: Bumblebees pollinate the flowers. The seeds are like dust they are so small. They probably are windborne and wouldn’t get very far, which is one reason we might not see Allotropa in timber harvest area. But even more important, harvested areas do not support the mycorrhizal fungi. It’s too hot for them. The fungi is baked like bread and can’t withstand the drying either. Then it takes awhile for the fungi to return.

Richie: I understand that firefighters discovered candystick in the Mussigbrod fire area?

Joy: Yes on the edges of the fire outside of the burn. We alerted firefighters to look for it, so with several hundred more eyes we were able to document new populations. We also had several plants in the burn that we will monitor to see how they do. It helps people to know about rare plants, value them and not accidentally destroy them. And with more people looking, they can help us do a better job finding them in the forest.

Richie: What’s the lesson we can draw from candystick and its three-way relationship?

Joy: I never cease to be amazed by this plant. It gives you an appreciation for intricacies that are above and below the soil. Typically, we look at the surface without realizing there’s a whole world below the surface too.

INTERVIEW WITH Mike Castellano, Research Forester, Pacific Northwest Research Center Fungus and Truffle expert

Richie: Do you think the fungus benefits from its bond with the Allotropa- Is it symbiotic?

Castellano: We don’t have a clear answer, but one theory is that the Allotropa may stimulate hormone production in the fungus so that it would be more healthy and productive. Mycorrhizal fungus normally associates with a green plant and produces root hormones, which then promote root branching. What happens is the fungus stimulates the tree to send carbohydrates to the roots, so there will be more real estate for that fungi to bond with. The more healthy a root system, the healthier the tree. We don’t understand the relationship of the biochemistry yet. It’s hard enough studying two partners and this is a three-way relationship. W do know there’s carbohydrate traced from the tree to the fungus to the Allotropa. The fungus is the mediator. Half of all fixed carbohydrates are found below the ground..it’s a hidden world. Richie: Why would the fungus serve as a mediator? Castellano: Essentially, we have a very benevolent fungus. We don’t know why it would give up nutrients unless there is something its getting in exchange. It’s rarely studied because its not considered of economic importance. There are several species that fall in this group of monotropes (a subfamily of the Ericaceae family) -some in Asia and Europe. In Washington and Oregon we have 7-8 of those species…but they aren’t well studied.

Richie: Speaking of economic importance, what about the connection of Allotropa to Matsutake mushrooms?

Castellano: I discovered the relationship in Montana a few years back when looking at plants in the Bitterroots. Matsutake have a distinctive aroma and happen to be the only kind of mushroom I eat. Follow-up research has shown that where you find Allotropa you find matsutake, but not the other way around. For commercial harvesters, this could help them search for sites out of season.

Richie: We can visualize mushrooms, but what does a mycorrhizal fungus look like underground?

Castellano: “Myco” refers to fungus and “rrhizal” refers to fruit. The plant itself looks like a fine spider web, but there’s a feeder root that’s connected to the fruiting body. You can see the mycelium (the weblike body of the fungus) easily with the help of a hand lens. Where there’s mycorrhizal fungus on tree roots you don’t see root hairs because they are coated with mycelium. When roots tap into these rhizomes they can reach sources like phosphorus that tree roots otherwise can’t get to. It’s an efficient way of extending the root system. The mycelial strands are also bound together from individual strands as fine as silk to make a thicker rope; those are the transport organs that work like laying pipeline. For example, a fungus goes 10 meters out from the tree along a rhizomorph and then feeders go out from there, then back to the main pipeline and into the tree root.

Richie: How important are mycorrhizal fungi to trees?

Castellano: All trees have mycorrhizal fungi. They cannot complete their life cycle without them. They are part of the host. In fact, the fungi play as an important role for the trees as the bacteria in our intestines. Without them we’re dead.

GLOSSARY (Webster’s Dictionary)
Fungus: Any of a major group of saprophytic and parasitic lower plants that lack chlorophyll and include molds, rusts, mildews, smuts, mushrooms, and yeasts. Mycelium: The mass of interwoven filamentous hyphae that forms, especially the vegetative portion of the thallus of a fungus and is often submerged in another body (as of soil or organic matter or the tissues of a host). Mycorrhiza: The symbiotic association of the mycelium of a fungus with the roots of a seed plant. Symbiosis: The intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship.

More Background information The Fungal Kingdom
by Sandy Sheine and Bill Freedman
North American Mycological Association
Manual for Teachers and Naturalists:
Teaching About Fungi: Grades K-12
http://www.namyco.org/educ/fngkdm.htm

• The life cycle of a fungus begins as a spore ( the reproductive body ) that grows when conditions are just right. Out of the spore wall grows a hypha, that looks like a clear, microscopic fingertip.
• The body of the fungus is made up of a network of hyphal threads collectively called the mycelium. The mycelium grows in soil or within dead wood or living organisms. When growing conditions are favorable, the mycelium develops fruiting bodies, appearing as what we recognize as mushrooms or as other forms. Unlike members of the Plant Kingdom that use chlorophyll to utilize the energy from the sun to produce their own food, fungi do not have chlorophyll and must obtain their food from other sources.
• Fungi find nutrition doing one of or a combination of four things: 1. Fungi act as parasites and feed on living things, usually doing some degree of harm. Parasitic fungi use enzymes to break down tissues. Examples: the “Honey Mushroom” (Armillariella mellea) and the “Cauliflower Mushroom” (Sparassis crispa). 2. Fungi form beneficial partnerships (symbiosis) with other organisms such as trees and flowering plants: a. Ectomycorrhizal fungi grow thick coats of mycelia around the rootlets of trees and bring water and minerals from the soil into the roots. In return the host tree supplies the fungus with sugars, vitamins and other root substances. Examples: the Bolete Family associated with many species of conifer trees, aspen and birch, and the “Dead Man’s Foot” (Pisolithus tinctorius) which helps many plants grow. b. Endomycorrhizal fungi are microscopic soil fungi and penetrate the cells of plant roots. This relationship may be beneficial to both parties or may be harmful to one of them. 3. Fungi decompose dead plant and animal matter. Called saprophytes, they act as recyclers of dead organic matter, obtaining food from this material. Hyphal tips release enzymes that eventually decompose and release organic materials into the surrounding environment. Saprophytic fungi appear on dead trees, logs, plant litter such as leaves, and even dead insects and animals. Examples: “Gem-studded Puffball” (Lycoperdon perlatum) and “Turkey Tail”(Trametes versicolor). 4. Fungi break down inorganic matter such as rocks in order to obtain nutrients. It was recently reported by Dr. Torguy Unestram of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences at Uppsala that fungal hyphae, along with bacteria, dissolve rock to release nutrients.